GPTU WEBSITE

Wednesday, 10 December 2014

Defence workers begin ‘historic’ 10 day strike over pay

Gptu sends support to the Defence Support Group (DSG) strikers.

Defence workers begin ‘historic’ 10 day strike over pay

08 December 2014

Strike action over a one per cent pay rise at the Defence Support Group (DSG) is set to intensify today (8 December 2014) as over 800 members of the country’s largest union, Unite, start a 10 day strike at the Ministry of Defence (MoD) facilities.

The latest action, the longest in the group’s history, led to warnings of backlogs in the repair and maintenance of key military equipment as the union accused DSG management of fattening up the organisation for its sell off to preferred bidder Babcock Land.

Commenting, Unite national officer Mike McCartney said: “As the DSG is fattened up to be privatised, workers who support our armed forces have had pay cuts in real terms of nearly 18 per cent.

“The DSG is a cash rich organisation which can well afford a decent pay rise. Management should be under no illusion of the resolve of our members as this latest action, which is the longest in the group’s history, demonstrates.

“Any backlogs in repairs and maintenance of key military equipment sit squarely with DSG management who need to get back around the negotiating table to hammer out a fair pay deal.”

The latest round of action at the group which maintains, repairs and overhauls military equipment for the MoD, follows six days of solid strike action in October and November.

Defence union Unite is to ballot over 800 workers on industrial action in a long-running dispute over pay.

Employees at the Defence Support Group (DSG) will vote on strike action and action short of a strike from today.

The main DSG sites are at Bovington in Dorset, Catterick in North Yorkshire, Colchester in Essex, Donnington in Shropshire, Warminster in Wiltshire and Stirling.

Unite said its members had already rejected management’s 1 per cent pay offer for 2014 by a majority of 85 per cent in a consultative ballot.

The workers, who maintain, repair and overhaul military air and land equipment for the Ministry of Defence (MoD), are seeking an 8 per cent pay rise for 2014.

“It looks like the DSG will be sold off to the private sector in 2015 and our members want to be able to take with them to their new employer a decent rate of pay which can be consolidated for pension purposes,” said Unite national officer for the MoD Mike McCartney.

“DSG has a cash mountain of £65 million, which will go back to the Treasury’s coffers once the sale has been completed.

“The current DSG management can well afford to give a substantial pay rise to the workers who have made DSG such a success story.”

The sell-off of DSG was heralded by the coalition’s 2010 strategic defence review, but the process has been dogged by the issue of third-party intellectual property rights.

Please contact P.Murry at yrrumuk@googlemail.com if you are interested.

GREEN LEFT FRINGE AT AUTUMN CONFERENCE 2012

Both Green Left and the Green Party Trade Union Group applied to have fringes at the Green Party Conference September 7-10 2012, Conferences Committee turned down both these requests. Green Left decided to mount a fringe outside conference at 6-8pm on Saturday 8th September GPTU agreed to support this meeting and contribute towards costs of room hire. Video clips at http://greenleftblog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/green-left-fringe-fringe-at-green-party.html